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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (discontinued 2018)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting) -
“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
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Category Archives: Nexus
CA9: Failure to tell def of precise reason for arrest when no warrant in hand did not warrant suppression
Suppression of defendant’s statements is not warranted for FBI agents’ violation of Fed. R. Crim. P. 4(c)(3)(A), which provides that an arresting officer who does not possess a copy of the arrest warrant “must inform the defendant of the warrant’s … Continue reading
D.D.C.: BLM 1A speech restriction claim can proceed as a class action
A class claim for the June 2020 Lafayette Square BLM protest is certified for the First Amendment speech restriction claims but not the retaliation claims because they do not satisfy commonality under Rule 23(a). Damages claims can be pursued separately. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Probable cause for evidence of tax evasion in the home where records would be
Probable cause for evidence of tax evasion in the home where records would be: “Here, the affidavit sought to establish probable cause to believe Mr. Erickson took part in an ongoing scheme to evade paying taxes. Toward that end, the … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Ammunition on the person is PC for firearm in the home
Possession on the person of a significant amount of ammunition was probable cause and nexus to defendant’s house for the firearm. United States v. Partin, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47025 (E.D. Tenn. Mar. 14, 2025). Probable cause for evidence of … Continue reading
CA6: Nexus to home based on controlled buys doesn’t require constant visual surveillance
Controlled buys that included trips to defendant’s house was nexus. “Regardless of whether Sims was constantly within the detectives’ view, the affidavit establishes that for each controlled buy, Sims went straight to the buy location from the residence and returned … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Regularly posting whereabouts on social media helps show nexus to cell phone
Officers keyed on defendant as a shooting suspect because of a social media post from a year before with him wearing what appear to be the pants worn by the shooter. As for nexus to defendant’s phone, they rely on … Continue reading
TN: Nexus shown to cell phone in murder case
The trial court granted defendant’s motion to suppress the search of his cell phone in a murder case. On the state’s interlocutory appeal, suppression is reversed. There was sufficient nexus shown between the cell phone and the offense under investigation … Continue reading
CA6: Facebook picture of stolen lamp gave nexus for SW
An attempt to sell an antique lamp on Facebook provided sufficient nexus to defendant’s house for a search warrant. United States v. Truett, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 4764 (6th Cir. Feb. 27, 2025).* The district court saw the video of … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: Body camera shows stop was unreasonably prolonged
“After considering all evidence in context, including Officer Gonzalez’s testimony, her body camera video, and the rest of the record, the Court concludes that she unlawfully prolonged the traffic stop. Even when considering her experience and all facts from an … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: “4A privileges and immunities” are two claims, not one, and both denied here
Plaintiff’s case claimed Fourth Amendment privileges and immunities, but that’s two claims because privileges and immunities is under Art. IV, § 2, cl. 1 but it doesn’t state a claim under either. Gay v. Sheriff of L.A. Cty., 2025 U.S. … Continue reading
CA6: Nexus can be circumstantial
Nexus can be circumstantial. United States v. Simmons, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 4208 (6th Cir. Feb. 24, 2025) (It suggests it’s limited to drug dealers, but it’s really not. Moreover, it’s articulating what other courts think but don’t usually say.):
E.D.Tenn.: Applying the Sixth Circuit’s “drug dealer inference,” PC exists for the SW for def’s house
Applying the “drug dealer inference” for nexus, the court finds probable cause to believe defendant was dealing drugs from his house to support the search warrant. United States v. Evans, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8686 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 16, 2025):
NJ: Search not suppressed because bodycam wasn’t turned on
New Jersey has a bodycam directive that was apparently violated by the officers not turning theirs on before a search. Failure to turn on the bodycams was not a constitutional violation, and the court refuses to suppress. In addition, “the … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Flashing a fake badge in public doesn’t support SW for house
Defendant was indicted for impersonating an officer and flashing a fake badge at a school pickup line. The search warrant for his house for more evidence of that is suppressed. No nexus is ever shown between that offense and his … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Multiple counts of things seized under SW not severed
In a motion to sever counts for trial, it was significant that the stuff was seized under the same search warrant. United States v. Lewis, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217086 (D.D.C. Dec. 2, 2024). There was probable cause and nexus … Continue reading
VA: Furtive movements during stop justified protective sweep of car
Furtive movements during a traffic stop added to reasonable suspicion of a potential weapon. Bazemore v. Commonwealth, 2024 Va. App. LEXIS 659 (Nov. 12, 2024).* “Under our highly deferential standard of review, it also created a sufficient—if weak—nexus between Deeble’s … Continue reading
CA7: 13 months of pole camera surveillance was not unreasonable
Thirteen months of pole camera surveillance of the public areas outside defendant’s home were reasonable under United States v. Tuggle, 4 F.4th 505, 511 (7th Cir. 2021), and the court declines to reconsider that case. The officers saw no more … Continue reading
CA6: Shooting at officers executing SW justified 6 level USSG increase
Shooting at SWAT officers executing a warrant justified a 6 level Sentencing Guideline enhancement. United States v. Weaver, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 27036 (6th Cir. Oct. 24, 2024). The affidavit for warrant describing two CI’s buys from defendant at his … Continue reading
CA10: When PC is shown, nexus to home can be “thin”
“Defendant acknowledges that the affidavit in support of the search warrant ‘establishes probable cause to believe [Defendant] distributed controlled substances’ (and it plainly does), but says ‘the nexus between his drug activity and the apartment is thin.’ Aplt’s Op. Br. … Continue reading
DE: Nexus for SW for car did not extend to def’s house
The nexus in the affidavit for the warrant for defendant’s car did not extend to his house, so there was no probable cause for the house search. (The search is valid, however, from inevitable discovery. “That said, because the State … Continue reading